So, what I've got going for me:
I'm relatively young, in good health other than this cancer in my brain, and a wild guess estimate is 90% of it was in the tumor they already took out.
I've got just about the most supportive family, friends, and workplace anybody could ask for.
On the downside, if you lump me in with males up to age 90 with brain cancer, my "live expectancy" is a couple years...
But, hey, let's Do The Math:
A guy 90 years old, already has not much more on "life expectancy"... There's no numbers I can find breaking it down by decade or anything, so let's assume it's some kind of curve, and I'm on the right end of the curve.
It blew up fast, over the course of a couple months or even weeks, so there was not much more that could have been done for "early detection".
The docs have caught it in time to get 90% out already, and will radiate and chemo the other 10%. It will try to grow back, but we'll MRI it every couple months and catch it and chemo it some more, beating it back into submission. So we have a game plan to keep this under control indefinitely.
Do I expect to make it to 70+, like my dad, as I once did?
No, not really. I'll give it my best shot though!
Maybe I'll only hit 65, like my Mom. Still not a bad run.
So what's my "life expectancy"? I expect to get as much out of it as I can for as long as I can, same as anybody else!
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2 comments:
"So what's my 'life expectancy'? I expect to get as much out of it as I can for as long as I can, same as anybody else! "
Richard, very true. We never know where our lives are going to take us. I believe you know my wife Stacy. Three years ago, it looked like she had ALS. She ended up having another neurological disease that looks like ALS. She is treatable, but the disease is never going away and is chronic. She and I have learned to live more in the moments now.
Stacy feels her disease every day: the fingers don't work, the body can't move well, at times it is hard to walk. I see this happen. This is our life, and it is still a good life. Life happens moment by moment.
Richard, thanks for the words in the quote at the top. They ring true.
:) Half full...Yay!
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